


The Difficulties of Knowledge

by v_writings



Series: Peter's Not-So-Average Life [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 12:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12233043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_writings/pseuds/v_writings
Summary: You’re happy to know something so important about Peter’s life, but learning to deal with being aware of him being in danger might be a lot harder than you thought.





	The Difficulties of Knowledge

You love what Peter does for the city and the people when he’s out as Spider-Man, you really do— but the truth is that it’s pretty hard for you to not feel incredibly worried now that you know it’s  _him_ who’s out doing superhero stuff. You know that every time he does that he’s in danger, no matter how good at what he does he is. Hell, only  _yesterday_  he could’ve easily  _died_  during the bank robbery.

You talked about this morning on your way to school and he promised to do his best to reassure you and communicate with you to tell you he’s doing okay whenever he’s out, but even then you can’t stop the unsettling feeling that makes its home in the pit of your stomach—a feeling that refuses to leave until you know that Peter is safe in his home, or in your arms.

Still, you know that it’s only natural to worry, and you know that as time passes you’ll start to get less and less worried about him and you’ll trust his skills more than you do now… or maybe not.

Your phone vibrates while you’re in the middle of your English class, and you stealthily take it out of your pocket to see what the text says.

_I can’t wait to see you in gym class_

You bite the inside of your mouth to stop yourself from smiling, and type a quick response while pretending to read the text on your desk.

 **Ditto** **♥** ****

You add a spider emoji for good measure and block your phone before putting it in your pocket again, but when you feel it vibrate several times after that you simply resist the urge to grin and continue reading your textbook like nothing happened.

* * *

_:o_  
_:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o  
I feel like you’re LAUGHING AT ME_

“Parker, no phones during class. Thank you.” The teacher calls out, giving him a sardonic smile before continuing with what he was just saying— but Peter simply can’t concentrate.

Thankfully, that is not really a problem for him because he has no troubles with this subject, so he can simply look forward and act like he’s paying attention when in reality what he’s doing is think about  _you._

Peter is almost counting the  _seconds_  until he gets to see you in Gym class, because today is one of the days in the week when, besides that class, he only shares lunch with you.

He  _hates_  days like these.

When he enters the gym with Ned by his side, he sees you’re already sitting down on the bleachers and by the looks of it, you seem like you’re about to fall asleep. You don’t even register him sitting down next to you until he greets you, and even then you only manage to give him a sleepy smile and a quick kiss on the lips before closing your eyes again. As the other students sit down as well, Peter pulls you closer and you rest your head on his shoulder, not saying anything else. He feels incredibly guilty, because he knows this is happening because of last night.

“I’m sorry about earlier this morning. I should’ve let you sleep.” He apologizes in a whisper, looking sideways at you.

“It’s okay.” You shrug him off. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” You accommodate your head on his shoulder a little better, and he just lets you be without saying anything else.

Once the Captain America video is done, Peter shakes you softly, but you just groan and bury your face on his neck.

“Come on, we have to start.” He whispers, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek.

“I hate this class.” Peter feels the vibration that the sound of your voice creates against his skin, and it makes the hairs of his arms stand up. “I’m not doing  _anything_  today.” You finally move away from him and drag yourself down, but coach Wilson stops you both before you can get anywhere.

“[L/N], ropes. Parker, mats. And you better stay away from each other from the rest of the class or I will send you to the principal’s office for inappropriate behavior.” You simply stare at him with your mouth open in disbelief, as if what he just said is completely unjustified.

“What?  _Why_?” You ask, lifting up your arms dramatically. Peter doesn’t say a word because he knows he’ll only make it worse, given the fact that you both know  _very well_  why the coach is telling you this. He just stares at you with a blank face without saying anything— staying silent long enough for it to become really awkward. You don’t seem to care, though, and you continue looking at him questioningly like he has  _no reason_ to make sure you two aren’t close to each other during this class.

Since the last time you managed to let him pair you up with Peter you ended up kissing him every time you did a sit up, Peter knows for a fact that he’ll  _never_ trust either of you again.

“Ropes.” He deadpans, and you let out an exaggerated sigh before turning around and doing as told. You turn around to look at Peter with a forlorn expression, and he just smiles and mouths “see you later” before making his way towards the mats with Ned in tow.

* * *

“I’m gonna die. I can’t do it. I’ll die.” You groan, face down on the floor. “Actually, I would  _rather_ die than do this.” You add, almost as an afterthought.

“[L/N], for the love of God,  _climb the rope_.” Coach Wilson tells you, and even though you aren’t seeing him you  _know_  he just rolled his eyes at you. He does it all the time.

“I would  _love_ to, it just so happens that I’m physically  _unable_  to.” You answer, lifting up only your head to look at him. “What if I die, huh? What if I have a heart attack from the strain of trying to do something I’m unable to and then you get fired because of it?” You lift your eyebrows at him and he just stares at you without any emotion in his face, while simultaneously looking like he’s so done with you he’d jump out the window if he could, just so he doesn’t have to keep talking to you.

“I definitely don’t care enough to deal with this.” He shakes his head and turns around, leaving you lying there feeling victorious.

“Check and mate.” You whisper to yourself, turning around to lie on your back. You cross your legs and place your hands on your stomach, closing your eyes and getting ready to take a nap for the rest of the class. Coach Wilson cares so very little about anything that has got to do with you that he’ll pass you all anyway, because if he didn’t it would mean he’d have to deal with more work later.

You don’t normally get to sleep during Gym class because of the noise, but given the fact that you’ve been awake since five in the morning it actually doesn’t take you too long to start drifting away. Yesterday you found out that your lovely, sweet boyfriend is actually Spider-Man, and Peter spent the night at your place after you had a long talk about it. Afterwards you had to wake him up so no one would find out about what you did, but that meant that afterwards you were unable to fall asleep again. So, you came to school having barely slept, and even though at first you didn’t really feel it, now it’s hitting you pretty hard.

“Peter knows Spider-Man!” You were  _so close_  to falling asleep, but Ned’s familiar voice pulled you out from your daze rather violently. Your eyes open wide and you sit up, turning your head around until you find him and Peter.

What the actual fuck did he just do?

“No, I don’t. No. I— I  mean—” Peter stutters, and you just manage to stare at him and Ned with wide eyes.

Oh no. He’s nervous  _and_  embarrassed.

That’s it. You’re killing Ned.

“They’re friends. Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends.” Flash interrupts him, and you wish he was  _just_ a few inches closer so you’d be able to kick him in the shin and pretend it was an accident.

“I’ve met him, yeah. A couple times.” Peter says, and you know he’s making it really hard for anyone to believe what he’s saying. He’s definitely not the best liar in the world; he’s not a good liar, period.

“Oh my God, is that true?” One of your classmates asks you, mouth open in surprise.

“Uh… yep.” You manage to say, trying to think of a way to get out of answering if someone asks a question. If you say something different to what Peter says, people will call him a liar until you graduate.

And then in your 10 year high school reunion they will  _still_ call him a liar.

“Through the Stark internship.” He nods, and you curse under your breath and how obvious it is that he’s not telling the truth. “Yeah, well, I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“Well, that’s awesome. Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz’s party. Right?”

Oh,  _shit._

It’s no secret that a lot of people believe that the Stark internship is a lie that Peter tried to use to become more popular— and while it  _is_  a lie, they are completely wrong on the reasoning behind it. In the end even if Peter had wanted to use it to become more popular it completely backfired, because Flash made sure 95% of the student body were certain that he was lying, and now he teases Peter about it relentlessly.

You  _really_  want to punch him in the face for it.

“Yeah, I’m having people over tonight. You’re more than welcome to come.” Liz clarifies— being an absolute sweetheart, as usual.

“Having a party?” Peter asks, and all of a sudden you’re filled with an incontrollable urge to choke Ned for putting Peter in this situation.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man.”

“It’s okay.” Liz cuts in. “[Y/N] knows about it already and I assumed he’d go with her if he wanted to but I know Peter’s way too busy with parties anyway, so…”

“Come on. He’ll be there. Right, Parker?” Flash challenges, and you struggle with the decision of who you want to punch first: him, or Ned.

Him, probably.

The bell rings, and you get up as inconspicuously as possible and make your way towards Peter and Ned, trying to count to ten so you don’t strangle the latter as soon as he’s within arms’ reach.

“What the hell?” You ask Ned through gritted teeth, trying to keep a smile on your face as to not draw unwanted attention to you three.

“Did you not hear what Liz said?” Ned’s excitement shows that he’s ready to completely ignore your anger over what he’s just done— as usual.

“I was actually on the verge of falling asleep, thank you very much. At last until you screamed that Peter knew Spider-Man. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Liz said that she likes Spider-Man.” Peter explains, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously. Your eyebrows nearly rise to your hairline, and you look at Ned incredulously.

“And you’re trying to  _set them up_? You do realize that Spider-Man has a girlfriend already, _don’t you_?” Peter laughs but covers it up with a cough, and you glare at him. He mumbles “I love you” and you melt, becoming unable to do anything but smile softly at him in response.

The question was rhetorical, but Ned answers anyway.

“God, are you two telepathically connected or something that you think the same? No. I’m not trying to set anyone up. Can’t you see what’s happening? If we go to that party and Spider-Man shows up and he’s all like ‘ _what’s up, I’m their friend’_  we’ll be made for life. No more teasing, no more anything. We’ll be like,  _royalty._ ” You just stare at him and then at Peter, because he  _cannot_ be thinking about using Peter to become more popular.

“Ned, I don’t think—” Peter begins, and you know he thinks the same thing you do.

This is  _not_ a good idea.

“Flash will never tease you again.” Peter, who was previously looking down at his feet, immediately lifts his head up and you see a spark something in his eyes— and then his expression becomes almost  _hopeful._

“I—” He’s still doubtful, but you know that the possibility of finally shutting Flash up awakened something inside of him. “[Y/N]? What do you think?”

Well, fuck. If he’s asking you what you think you know it’s because he’s considering it, and knowing that he’s considering because of how much he wants Flash’s constant teasing to stop makes you unable to tell him that he shouldn’t do it.

“It’s your choice, babe. In the end, you  _do_ know Spider-Man pretty well, don’t you?”

* * *

_We’re outside_

Peter’s phone buzzes almost immediately after he hits send, most likely because you were already waiting for his message.

**On my way down**

A minute later Peter sees you opening the door of your building, and as soon as you see him your face lights up with a wide grin. You look beautiful in your outfit and it does take his breath away, but  _that smile…_ he can’t compare the feeling he gets in the pit of his stomach when you smile at him with anything else.

Knowing that you smile at him because you’re happy to see him, because you  _love_ him— that’s simply the best feeling in the world.

“You’re just two seconds away from drooling, it’s  _adorable_.” May suddenly says, pulling him out from his thoughts. He makes eye contact with her through the rearview mirror, and he can see the slightly pronounced laughter lines in her eyes.

“I’m not going to— hi.” He greets you when you open the door, scooting over to the side to make more room for you.

“Hi.” You greet back, pecking his lips quickly before closing the car door. “Hi, May.”

“Hi sweetie. You look beautiful.” She says with a smile, turning around for a moment. “You both look very good.”

“Aw, thank you.” You say, looking down at your clothes while smiling bashfully. “You do look really nice, as usual.” You add in a whisper, moving your hand until it finds Peter’s and your fingers interlock together.

He doesn’t answer not because he doesn’t want to, but because he can’t. He’s just grinning at you like the lovesick puppy he is, and the fact that you’re holding his hand only makes it worse— or better, depending on the way you look at it.

You always know how to leave him speechless.

“Let’s go get Ned, then.” May says, starting the car. “Seatbelts on, please.”

* * *

“Bye May!” You say, waving at her as she drives away. “Well, that definitely wasn’t awkward as hell.” You say sarcastically, shaking your head to try and get rid of the memory of what just happened inside that car.

_“I know it’s really hard, trying to fit in with all the changes your body’s going through. It’s flowering now, and when you have a girlfriend you love…”_

No. You’re just  _never_ going to think about Peter’s aunt talking about Peter’s body going through changes ever again.

The inside of Liz’s house is filled with people, and you look around and wave at a few of your friends who are scattered around.

“Okay, we’re gonna have Spider-Man swing in, say you guys are tight, ask [Y/N] to tell you hi for him, and then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro hugs.” Peter looks extremely nervous, and you hold his hand and give him a reassuring squeeze.

“I can’t believe you guys are at this lame party.” Michelle suddenly says, appearing out of nowhere. Well, probably not out of nowhere, but you didn’t notice her until just now.

“But you’re here too.” Ned retorts, frowning in confusion.

“Am I?” Michelle asks cryptically, and you snort before shaking your head at her.

She’s a delight.

“Oh my gosh, hey guys. Cool hat, Ned. [Y/N], you look great.” Liz says, walking up to you with a bright smile. You smile back in response, but Ned and Peter just stay silent. “I’m so happy you guys came. There’s pizza and drinks. Help yourself.”

“Thanks Liz.” You smile, and squeeze Peter’s hand rather tightly to get him to say something instead of just standing there in awkward silence.

“What a great party.” He blurts out, and you smile and nod in agreement.

“Thanks.” Liz says with a grin, and just then you hear something breaking and Liz’s expression turns into worry. “Oh— I— my parents will kill me if anything’s broken. I gotta—”

“Go ahead.” You say, and Peter nods in agreement with a small smile.

“Have fun.” She says right before leaving, and once she’s gone, you turn to Peter expectantly.

Earlier today when you were getting ready, Peter called you and you had a talk about him not being sure about appearing as Spider-Man at Liz’s party, and while you told him that it was his choice to do whatever he felt comfortable with, you also told him that the best thing he could do was to be himself, always.

“Come on Peter, Spider it up.” Ned whispers, looking at Peter with eyebrows raised in excitement. Peter looks at you, and you give him a reassuring smile and rub the back of his hand with your thumb to let him know you support whatever he decides to do.

“No, no, no, no. I can’t—  I cannot do this. Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I’m just gonna… be myself.” You smile and kiss his cheek right after he says it, because you’re really proud of him for making that decision in the end.

“Peter, no one wants that.” Ned retorts, staring at him like he just said the stupidest thing ever.

_“Dude.”_

“Excuse me?” You and Peter both talk at the same time, but he’s nowhere near as offended as you are by what Ned just said. “How dare—”

“You’re biased because you’re in love with him, your opinion doesn’t count.” He dismisses you, and your mouth opens in disbelief.

“Are you serious? I— what— you—” You scoff and turn to Peter instead, grabbing his face in your hands and squishing his cheeks. “You.” You press a kiss to his puckered lips. “Are.” Another. “Perfect.” And another one. He giggles adorably at that, and you press one last kiss just because you can.

“ _You_  are an asshole.” You say through gritted teeth, jabbing a finger at Ned’s chest. Peter grabs your hand again, but you don’t get too far before hearing the voice of the Devil Himself— also known as Flash Thompson.

“Penis Parker, what’s up?!” He yells through a microphone, and Peter’s hand squeezes yours almost instantly. You know he didn’t do it on purpose, it’s because he tensed up at that fucking nickname. “So, where’s your pal Spider-Man? Let me guess, in Canada with [Y/N]’s higher standards?” People laugh at that and his hold on his hand becomes tighter, but this time you’re squeezing him back just as tightly.

You’re going to kill Flash.

“That’s not Spider-Man, that’s just Ned in a red shirt.” People continue laughing, and your anger continues to rise at the speed of light.

“Come on, let’s go.” Ned says, pushing you both forward to get you out of there. Wise choice, considering that it seemed like both you and Peter were rooted at your spots— albeit for different reasons. Flash says something else neither of you pays attention to as you leave, and you search for a place less crowded outside the house.

“I’m going to do it.” Peter suddenly says once you three are somewhat alone, and you stare at him with a frown until you realize what he means.

“Peter, you don’t have to.” You say, pulling him towards you and wrapping your arms around his waist.

“Yes!” Ned shrieks happily, looking like he’s just been told the best news of his entire life. “This is going to be amazing. Just do as we planned.”

“I know I don’t have to.” Peter says, ignoring Ned. “But I’m just… I’m so tired of Flash teasing us and maybe if I do this he’ll finally leave us alone. Can you  _imagine_?” His hopeful look is all you need to simply nod in agreement to this, because even though Flash does tease you too, it’s nothing compared to what Ned and Peter have been going through for the past years.

Flash’s teasing when it comes to you boils down to him basically telling you that you could do better than dating Peter and being Ned’s friend— but when it comes to them it’s way,  _way_  worse.

“Okay, we’ll wait for you inside.” You say, kissing Peter on the lips before pulling away. He nods and smiles, and you let out a breath while hoping that this doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.

“This is the best day ever!” Ned whisper-shrieks, doing a little victory dance.

“Come on Ned, let’s go.” You grab him by the wrist and pull him with you while he’s still dancing, waving at Peter and leaving him alone to sort himself out.

“How long do you think he’s going to take?” Ned asks once you’re inside while you scroll through your Twitter feed, looking out the windows to try and see if he can find Peter.

“Dunno.” You shrug your shoulders. “A few minutes, I guess.”

As it turns out, more than a few minutes pass and now you’re past the point when you think Peter simply decided against appearing as Spider-Man because he’d be back as himself already if that were the case, and he’s not.

“Where the hell is he?” You ask Ned, biting your thumb nail nervously. “It’s been way too long.”

“I’ll call him.” Ned says, pulling his phone out. A couple seconds later he rolls his eyes and sighs, and you know he went to voicemail. “Where are you? We’re waiting for you, dude. Call me back.”

More time passes, and there’s still no sign of Peter. By this point, you’ve got no more thumb nail to bite on, and now you’re biting your lip.

“Fuck, I’m freaking out. I mean, I have a feeling that he’s out somewhere doing stuff but also what if something happened to him?” You say this while texting him to please tell you if he’s okay ASAP, and wait for a reply anxiously. Ned pulls his phone out and tries calling him  _again._

“Voicemail again.” He complains out loud. “Peter, where are you? The hat’s not working. This is not cool. Also, [Y/N] seems to be on the verge of a breakdown because she’s worried about you. Can you get here already?”

* * *

Peter feels like shit.

No, scratch that. He feels like  _less_ than shit. He really wants to know why Tony is now treating him like he’s some useless child when just months ago he  _himself_ found him and took him to Germany to fight for him, why he made him feel like he considered him something resembling an equal when it now seems like that’s not the case at all.

What did he want from him if it wasn’t to include him in his team from now on? What was the point of taking him to Germany if he didn’t really think Peter could handle serious stuff?

During the middle of his reverie, Peter’s eyes catch a distinct purple glow, and he quickly realizes that it seems to be part of the weapons those guys were selling earlier. He confirms it on closer inspection, but before he can really see what’s up with it his phone rings.

Ned’s calling him,  _again._

“Hey man, what’s up? I’m on my way back.”

“Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn’t come. Listen.”

“When I say  _Penis,_ you say  _Parker! Penis—_ ”

“ _Parker!_ ”

“ _Penis—_ ”

“ _Parker!_ ”

“Sorry Peter, I guess we’re still losers.” Ned says in a resigned tone, sighing in defeat.

 _“SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE—”_ That’s  _your_  voice, Peter has no doubts about it.

“What was  _that_?” Peter asks, straightening his back and focusing on listening what’s being said beneath the sound of the music of the party.

“Oh god, I have to go. I think [Y/N]’s going to punch Fla–”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH OR I’LL MAKE YOU REGRET IT, TRASH THOMPSON! MARK MY GODDAMN WOR–” The line suddenly goes silent, and Peter just stares at the background image of his phone —a picture of you and him kissing on the lips a couple months ago— for a moment, before a laugh escapes his mouth and then he shakes his head, smiling at the thought of you screaming at Flash because he was teasing him.

It feels  _really_ good when you’re protective of him.

He opens his conversation with you on his phone, and seeing the messages you sent asking him to tell you if he was okay both make his chest feel warm and soft, and like it’s being crushed under an immense pressure; that part is probably the guilt of not replying to you sooner. He starts typing faster than usual, almost feeling as if he doesn’t say this right in this very instant it’ll somehow physically hurt him.

 _I’m so sorry I made you worry and for not replying_  
I’m okay  
I love you with all my heart

Peter waits for a message in response, but instead your smiling face appears on screen, signaling he has an incoming call from you. He looks around to see if it’s safe to remove his mask, and once he confirms that there’s no one around that can see him he takes it off and presses the green button.

“Hi, I’m sorry.” He says, looking at the ground.

“Hi, it’s okay. I love you too. Are you really okay?”  He smiles at the question, and something in his chest feels a little lighter just because he’s talking with you.

“Yeah, yeah. I just— I heard you screaming at Flash and Ned said you were worried and I felt like I really needed to say it.” There’s a prolonged silence on the other side, and he looks at his phone thinking that maybe the call ended without him realizing it—but it didn’t. It’s still going. “[Y/N]?”

“Peter _, Jesus_. You’re so cute I can’t take it. I love you so,  _so much_.”

“Yeah, well…” He sits down and starts tracing random patterns on the ground. “Did you leave the party? I can’t hear any sounds.”

“Umm…” You’re avoiding his question, which makes him roll his eyes because it means you did something you’re not too proud of. “Yeah… we kinda  _had_  to.”

“What happened?  I only heard part of what you said.”

“Ugh. Yeah.” You take a deep breath and then let it out, and Peter knows he’s in for a story. “Okay so everything was fine, right? Well,  _okay_ , as fine as it could be because Ned is glaring at me because he thinks everything went to shit but  _anyway—_ ”

“Everything  _did_ go to shit!” He hears Ned scream in the background, and then he hears a muffled  _‘shut up’_  like you pressed your phone against your chest so he wouldn’t listen.

“Anyway, Flash had been a little shit since you left asking me why I was dating you and saying that you were a loser, you know, the usual stuff. And at this point I’m  _super_ stressed because I’d realized you left and I’m wondering if you’re alright and my patience is like,  _gone._ It ceased to exist. And then he starts with the Penis Parker stuff and I’m just ready to knock his goddamn teeth out, so I tell him  _‘talk shit, get hit. Shut the fuck up or else’_  but of course he doesn’t listen, he made it  _worse._ And now he’s making people join in and I’m stressed and pissed and I want to call you to see if you’re okay and Flash is fucking  _looking at me_ while he says Penis Parker and I’m  _this_ close to losing it  _completely,_ I just need him to say  _one_ more thing… and then he  _does_ and then everything else is a blur.” Peter hears some shuffling and muffled words, but when he’s about to ask what happened he’s interrupted by Ned’s voice.

“What actually happened was that—  _Jesus Christ, let go of me_ — Betty was holding her back but she’s so small that she couldn’t do a lot, and Michelle was like  _‘yeah [Y/N] defend your man’s honor!_   _Screw gender roles!_ ’ and Liz was like  _‘oh my God please don’t break anything’_ and Flash was  _literally_ screaming and running away from her and it was the most amazing thing  _ever._ ”

“Give me that! Ned for fuck’s— Peter? Wait, are you laughing?” He  _is,_ because the entire situation is ridiculous and  _great_ and he really wishes he’d been there to see it. Although, had he been there maybe it wouldn’t have escalated to that because he would’ve been able to calm you down, but still. It would’ve been great to see it.

“I’m sorry—” He apologizes, trying to regain his breath. “It’s just— I had a bit of a rough night and this really helped me. Thank you. I love you.”

“Wait a sec.” You say, and suddenly he hears a very muffled  _‘walk ahead’_ said by you followed by a  _‘seriously? Okay, fine’_ said by Ned. “Peter?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Do you wanna talk? Like, in person? Look, I’m home alone tonight and if you want to you can—”

“Yes, I do.” He quickly answers, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I told May I was going to stay over at Ned’s anyway. Where are you right now? I’ll meet you and we’ll go together.”

“Umm… I think there’s a park like two blocks away? I don’t know the address so I’ll look it up and then I’ll text you, okay? We’ll wait for you there.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there. Love you.”

“Love you too, bye.”

* * *

“Do you want something to drink? I think I should make you a tea to help you relax.” You say as soon as you lock the door, leaving the keys on a bowl and turning the lights on.

“Sure, thank you.” Peter says, and you realize he’s acting a little off. You actually noticed it already while you were coming here, because he didn’t talk much besides answering the things you asked.

“Okay, uh… you can sit on the couch if you want, I’ll be there in a sec.” He just nods and turns around to walk towards it, but you catch his wrist and stop him from doing so. You pull him just a little towards you— only enough for him to decide if he wants to get closer or not. He walks back towards you and rests his forehead against yours, and you stare at his eyes for a long moment before breaking the silence.

“There’s a lot going on in here tonight, isn’t it?” You ask in a whisper, rubbing slow, small circles on his temple. He closes his eyes and nods, rubbing your nose with his own softly before his mouth finds yours.

The kiss is really gentle and sweet, and you lower your hand from his face so you can wrap your arms around his waist. He wraps his own around your neck, and you deepen the kiss a little while trying to not ruin the tender atmosphere that’s been built around you both. Peter lets out the softest whines every once in a while, but other than that and separating to take a breath for a moment in between kisses you don’t stop until several minutes have passed. You can’t know how many, but when you pull away Peter is breathless and his cheeks are flushed deep red, making him look like he just ran 100 meters in 10 seconds.

“Come here, I’ll make you that tea.” You say, pulling him with you into the kitchen by the hand. As you busy yourself preparing the cups for the both of you, Peter sits on the counter and observes you silently, fiddling with his hands on his lap.

While you wait for the water to boil, you walk up to Peter and place yourself between his legs, trapping him in place with your hands on either side of his thighs. He doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest, because he leans forward and rests his chin on your shoulder before wrapping his arms around you. You return the hug, rubbing soothing circles on his back while you wait for him to talk first.

“I’m not sure that Mr. Stark likes me after all.” He finally says, and there’s something that resembles resignation in his tone that makes your protective side overcome you completely.

“Why do you think that?” You ask, as calmly as you can. It’ll be counterproductive to start insulting Tony Stark if you want Peter to talk to you about this as honestly as possible.

The kettle whistles before he can answer your question, and you pull away from him only enough to extend your arm and turn the stove off. Resuming your previous position, you repeat your question.

“Because—” He sighs. “You know how I told you that this empty suit rescued me after I fell into the water?” You nod and he sighs again, which can’t be a good sign. “Well, after that he sort of, called or something and he was talking to me through it, and he was saying things like… like he didn’t think I was good enough to get those guys.” He pulls back only enough to look at you, and his in his expression you can see clear confusion. “But  _he_ is the one who came to find me because he needed my help in Germany. And today he told me that if Captain America had wanted to he could’ve easily won the fight with me but… but why would he take me there if I didn’t— if I wasn’t—”

“What, baby?”

“Why did he take me to fight by his side against Captain America if he doesn’t think I can do this? What changed after Berlin?” His lost expression breaks your heart, and you wish you’d had the answer he wants to hear— something that would make everything better and it would make him stop feeling bad about himself.

Sadly, you don’t, because you have no fucking clue what was going through that old man’s mind when he took Peter with him without telling May and put him in danger. And now he’s responsible for making Peter feel like he’s not adequate for what he wants to do, while simultaneously being the reason behind’s Peter need to do things like that. After Berlin, he simply cannot settle for doing only small stuff— he craves something  _bigger._

If you ever get the chance, you will punch Tony Stark in the face.

“Look, baby…” You measure your words carefully, because the last thing you want is to make him feel even worse. “I’ve told you before that I think you need to be careful, and especially when it comes to these people because it seems like they are  _not_ playing around.” He nods and looks at you attentively, almost like he wants to memorize every word you say. “But also… look. Tony Stark doesn’t know you, okay? You’ve spent what, 6 hours in total in his presence?” His face tells you it’s probably  _less_  than that. “He may think he knows you, but he doesn’t. And I know you respect him, but maybe… maybe don’t take his opinion of you that seriously, okay? He knows little to nothing about you and who you are.”

Peter doesn’t say anything at first— he just stares at you for a while, seemingly pondering what you just said to him. It’s only after you feel like an eternity has passed that he finally nods in response, chewing on his lip like he does whenever he’s thinking deeply about something.

“I get what you’re saying, but it’s just—” He laughs, but there’s no humor behind it— there’s only bitterness. “It’s really shitty to know for a fact that Tony Stark thinks you’re useless, you know?” His eyes glaze over and he quickly looks away with his jaw set in frustration. You cup his cheek and move his head towards you again, making him look at you.

“I doubt he thinks that or else he wouldn’t have taken you to Germany, but I get what you’re saying. He’s being an asshole about this.” You press a soft kiss to his lips and when you pull away, Peter’s mouth seems to chase yours for a second until he opens his eyes again. “Let’s drink that tea now, okay?” He smiles at you and even though it’s small, this one seems much more genuine than any other he gave you earlier.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s do that.”

* * *

Usually, the steady rising and falling movements of your chest when you’re asleep are a guarantee that Peter will fall asleep too, but even with your arms around him and his ear pressed right above your heart it’s still not enough. Any other day it would be  _more_ than enough, but today it isn’t.

He has too much going on in his mind to be able to fall asleep.

Still, there’s something that naturally relaxes him whenever you’re together like this; maybe it’s your heartbeat, or the fact that he smells your scent every time he inhales, or your arms around him making him feel safe and protected.

Maybe it’s all of that, or maybe it’s even more.

The truth is that being like this also helps him focus, and that means that he can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier today with Mr. Stark. He understand what you mean about maybe not taking whatever he thinks about him too seriously, because it’s true that he doesn’t know Peter or who he is, but he also is probably the only person who can get him to be part of something  _bigger,_ and he has to make sure Mr. Stark knows Peter is ready for the  _real stuff._ He thinks he proved himself in Berlin, but if Mr. Stark needs  _more_  proof, he’ll give it to him.

Maybe it’s even because he doesn’t  _truly_ know Peter that he thinks he’s not capable of handling a situation like this one— but Peter  _knows_  he can do this, and the missing piece of alien tech currently sitting on the floor of your living room is the best place to start working on his plan to prove himself.

* * *

Going back to school on Mondays is always the worst, but today you actually have a reason why you wanted to be here as soon as possible. Peter complained the whole weekend about not having what he needed to properly analyze that piece of alien high-tech he found after the mishap with those criminals while you were at the party, and he’s finally going to be able to check it out properly with Ned.

_Are you busy right now? Me and Ned are going to the lab to run some tests on the thing if you wanna come and check it out with us_

You’re on the library when you get Peter’s message, and as much as you want to ditch what you’re doing and join them, you can’t.

 **I can’t** **:'(** **I’m tutoring today**  
**Keep me updated?  
** _Will do_  
Love you ♥  
**Love you too**

You put the phone in your backpack to make sure you don’t get distracted if Peter starts sending you messages, and then spend the next hour helping two freshman with Algebra. By the time you’re done and waving them goodbye, you pull your phone out only to discover that you have seven unread messages from Ned and one missed call from Peter.

“Oh, fuck, what happened?” You mumble to yourself, opening the messages and reading as fast as you can.

 _OHMY GOD THE WILDEST THING JUST HAPPENED_  
YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT  
PETER SAYS I SHOULDNT SNED IT OVER TEXT JUST IN CASE SO I WONT BUT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT OH GOD  
WE’RE AT PETER’S COME BY THE MOMENT YOU’RE FREE   
Also Peter said to tell you that we’re okay and you shouldn’t worry because nothing bad happened  
and that he loves you   
g r o s s

You laugh at the last part, but also speed up your walking because now you want to know what the hell happened for Ned to be so excited. It has to have something to do with the thing Peter found the other night, but you can’t possibly know  _what,_  exactly.

You send Peter a quick text while you’re on the elevator of his building, telling him that you’re almost there, and when you get out of it on his floor you see his head poking out of the door of his apartment.

“Come! Quickly!” He whisper-screams, sprinting towards you and grabbing you by the hand after kissing you so fast your lips barely felt it.

“What’s going on?” You ask when he closes the door, following him to his bedroom. Ned’s inside holding what looks like Peter’s web shooters, but they’re projecting some sort of hologram of something you’re not able to make out yet.

“Okay so, remember the guys who were selling the weapons the other night?” You nod and sit down on his chair, leaving your backpack by your feet. “Well, before we could go to the lab we saw them,  _inside the school._ ”

“What?!” You shriek, body lurching forward as you grip the armrests of the chair so tightly that some of your nails actually pierce the fabric. “Do they know it was you? Do they know you’re Spider-Man?” You say the last part so lowly you wouldn’t be surprised if he couldn’t hear it at all, even with his enhanced hearing.

“No, no, babe, it’s okay. They don’t know anything.” You let out a breath and Peter grabs your face before kissing you softly, and you immediately feel better.

“Okay, and then what?” You ask, sitting back on the chair again while Peter sits on the bed.

“And then Peter went  _woosh–_ ” Ned interrupts, imitating what Peter does to use his web-shooters with his own hand. “And shot a little spider to one of the guy’s feet and now we’re tracking them.” Ned looks like he’s having the time of his life, but you feel like in the last five minutes you aged ten years.

“That’s  _basically_  it, I’ll explain it better later.” Peter says dismissively, and you simply nod because this was an emotional rollercoaster and for now you feel better knowing only the bare minimum about this.

“So, where are they now?” You ask, leaning forward to see the hologram a little better.

“They passed Staten Island a little while before you got here.” Ned says, completely focused on the movement of the image. “You want a Dorito?” Without looking away he offers you the bag, and you shrug your shoulders before taking one.

“Where do you think they’re going?” You ask, rolling the chair forward until you can prop your feet up and rest them on Peter’s lap.

“Dunno.” He says, eating the last Dorito from the bag. “But it doesn’t look like they’re stopping anytime soon.”

He’s spot on—and you try and make yourselves busy while you wait for something else besides these guys driving around to happen.

At one point you and Ned decide to continue rebuilding the Death Star, while Peter fiddles with his other web shooter.

“Leaving Jersey.” Ned reports monotonously, as he’s been doing for the past hour every fifteen minutes or so. You stopped paying attention a while back, because it got boring pretty quickly.

You spend a while longer building the Death Star but that also bores you both, and you end up lying on your back on top of Peter’s carpet staring at the ceiling.

“Can I try the mask on?” Ned asks, and Peter just throws it at him. “This is so cool.” He says, moving his head around to try and take everything in. “Do you wanna try it on too?” He asks you, but you shake your head.

“I already did, the other night.” Ned shrugs his shoulders and starts looking at his own hands, looking like he’s high and seeing things that aren’t there.

You and Peter start throwing a tennis ball at each other, but like everything else you’ve been doing for what it seems like a goddamn  _eternity,_ you get bored of that as well.

“This is the worst.” You complain, leaning back on Peter’s desk chair.

“Are they still going?” Peter asks, walking across the ceiling of the room. Even though you’ve seen him do that before you think it’ll never cease to amaze you— except for right now because you’ve basically stopped caring about everything.

“Yep.” Ned confirms, throwing himself back on Peter’s bed.

“ _God._ ” You groan, rubbing your eyes tiredly.

“Are you okay?” You nod in response at his question, but when you look up again you find him right in front of your face, staring at you with a little frown. You realize that if you sit up straight your mouths will get aligned perfectly, and an involuntary smile takes over your face at the thought of an upside-down kiss. “What?” He asks, smiling too just because you’re doing it.

You grab the sides of his face and he gasps, blushing deep red when he realizes what you want to do. You roll the chair forward until you’re so close that the tips of your noses touch each other’s chins, and Peter grabs your wrists gently— almost like he wants to make sure you won’t let go of him.

Maybe it’s not the most appropriate time to kiss him because Ned is literally two feet away from you, but you care about that a lot less than you probably should when you close the distance between your lips and kiss him like you’re completely alone. Peter’s grip on your wrist tightens just a little when he opens up his mouth and you deepen the kiss, but before you can really get into it a beeping sound startles you both and you pull away immediately.

Ned sits up and you move your head to the side to see what’s happening. Peter’s web-shooter is doing something— most likely related to the guys being tracked.

“They stopped.” Ned announces, and Peter turns around immediately.

“Maryland?”

“What’s there?” Ned asks.

“I don’t know. Evil lair?” You snort and shake your head at how ridiculous that sounds, but then you realize that while they probably don’t call it  _that,_ they most likely just arrived to the place where they do their business.

“They have a lair?”

“Dude, a gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair.” Well, when he puts it like that you can see how it would make sense, but you still wouldn’t call it that. Something like  _base of operations_  sounds a lot more reasonable than  _evil lair_.

“Badass.” Ned compliments. “But how are you gonna get there if it’s like, 300 miles away?”

The three of you automatically look towards Peter’s wall, where a poster you all know very well has been hanging for quite a while now.

“It’s not too far from D.C.” Peter says; and just like that, a solution is found.

The Academic Decathlon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked this and can spare a moment to leave a comment I'd love to read what you thought ♥


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